Call waiting with caller ID

[dscycler]

Does Fusion Voice have call waiting with caller id? Perhaps I am spoiled but Call Waiting by itself without the ability to see who is calling is close to "useless." Is there a way to do this with Fusion Voice? Thanks...

[dane]

Caller ID on call waiting does work on Fusion, at least on the phones we have tested with. It may take a few moments after the beep to display.

-Dane

[dscycler]

OK, I will keep my eye on it. The phone I am using is a 2-line Northern Telecom. It is likely pretty old but does display caller id. Call Waiting with Caller Id worked great on it on the Astound Cable system. Thanks.

[dane]

Will others report if Call ID on call waiting works for them, and what type of phone you have?

-Dane

[dscycler]

I stand corrected. Call waiting with caller id is working fine.

Another question if I may. As I was testing the person I was talking to reported hearing the call waiting beep as a new call was ringing in to me. Is there any way to prevent my call waiting tone from being heard by the person on the other end of the existing call?

Thanks...

[virtualmike]

Caller ID on call waiting works fine for me.

Regarding the other party hearing the beep...

When I'm on a call and another person rings my line, I hear the standard ~440 Hz beep, followed by a very brief tone at a much higher frequency (closer to 1 KHz). However, subsequent beeps are only the ~440 Hz beep.

I have confirmed the other party hears the higher frequency tone that follows the first CW beep, but not the usual ~440 Hz tones.

[dane]

Interesting, thanks for the additional data. So the other party only hears one beep, a brief initial one. I guess that's good, it provides a reason to break the conversation, "no, I'm going to let that go to voicemail", or "oops, call waiting, gotta go".

Some other switches seem to briefly click for both parties, providing a similar function.

-Dane

[dscycler]

I have (in the past) detected that the person on the other end of my line is getting a call waiting notification if they are speaking at the time by a brief interruption of the inbound voice corresponding with the beep they must be hearing on their end. So each phone switch seems to handle what the other party hears differently. I do know folks who refuse to have call waiting enabled at all because they want the person they are speaking with to feel they have their undivided attention.

[virtualmike]

The clicking that was heard by the parties during the CW signaling happened when the called party got service from an AT&T 1AESS, which is an electronic switch, but is analog. It was the first generation of electronic switches, and there are still a few in service today. The switch serving much of Oakland Main was a 1A until around 2002-03.

In those switches, the line receiving the call had to be physically switched out of the conversation, connected to the bus with the 440 Hz tone, then physically switched back to the conversation. That meant the called party heard <click><400 Hz tone><click>, and the other party heard <click><nothing><click> at the same time, since on those switches, one heard a click for connections/disconnections.

The majority of AT&T subscribers in CA now are on DMS100s or AT&T 5ESSes, which are fully digital switches. (Oakland Main is a 5E.) In those switches, the voice path to the line with CW is momentarily replaced by the 440 Hz tone. The called party just hears the tone (similar to my experience with the subsequent beep on my Fusion). The other party may notice a momentary dropout of the voice or background noise of the called party.

[virtualmike]

I do know folks who refuse to have call waiting enabled at all because they want the person they are speaking with to feel they have their undivided attention.

That's one often-cited reason for not having CW. Others include not wanting to be interrupted (regardless of the impression to the other party), not wanting to pay extra for the service, or not wanting a fax or modem connection to be interrupted.